ATKINS — The Pope County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) arrested an Atkins High School student late Tuesday afternoon who Sheriff Aaron DuVall said was involved with a bomb threat made that morning at Atkins High School.

The arrest was made at about 5 p.m. in connection with the bomb threat that occurred Tuesday morning and caused the evacuation of Atkins High School students and staff before classes began for the day.

"A white juvenile male student of the high school was arrested and charged with falsely communicating a terroristic threat," DuVall said. "He will be charged as an adult and with a Class B felony. He will appear in bond hearings at the Pope County Detention Center Wednesday morning.

"I would like to recognize the Atkins Police Department, Atkins Fire Department, Arkansas State Police and PCSO deputies and investigators for their diligence in this matter. I want to say thanks to the Atkins High School faculty and administration who helped with this investigation. We appreciate their help. We stayed on it and got it done before school tomorrow. We will keep the investigation open in case something else develops."

No other details of the arrest were provided by the Sheriff.

The report of a bomb threat at Atkins High School delayed the start of school for about two hours as authorities checked the building for explosive devices Tuesday morning.

The school was declared all clear at around 10 a.m., and students and staff were able to return to the school.

Arkansas River Valley law enforcement agencies responded to the bomb threat at 7:40 a.m. Students and staff at the high school were moved away from the school building, DuVall said.

Atkins Superintendent Boyce Watkins said the threat was discovered before classes began Tuesday.

"The Atkins Police Department and Atkins Fire Department, along with Arkansas State Police (ASP) and Pope County Sheriff's Office are on site," DuVall said around 9 a.m. Tuesday. "We are working the crime scene where the message was found. We hope it was an idle threat."

Watkins said parents of students were notified of the incident via the school district's School Messenger system. Parents were also notified that all was clear at the school.

No bomb squad officials were called to the school, DuVall said. The sheriff said if assistance was needed, they would have called the ASP Bomb Squad or the Conway Fire Department Bomb Squad.